INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SPECIAL EDUCATION Vol 23 No 1 2008
UNDERSTANDING BEHAVIOR DISORDERS: THEIR PERCEPTION, ACCEPTANCE, AND TREATMENT- A CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARISON BETWEEN INDIA AND THE UNITED STATES
Sumita Chakraborti-Ghosh
TennesseeStateUniversity
The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions, identification and treatment of students with behavior problems or disorders in India and the United States. Participants in the study were students and teachers in the United States and India. A qualitative approach included in-depth interviews and participant observations. These were conducted in classrooms both in Indiaand the United States with teachers, students, and their parents/guardians. Data analysis reflected ongoing reflective journals, audio and video recordings, still photographs, and collections of ethnographic information which were gathered during interviews and observations by the researcher. Findings indicated that there were several factors i.e., family backgrounds, socioeconomics, environments, peer influence, cultural practices, societal expectations, and cultural gaps between home and school which influenced teachers’ perceptions and understanding of behavior problems and disorders in the United States and India. Implications for educators and recommendation of future research are included.
Cross-cultural research is a relevant means of obtaining important information especially within the field of education. Cross-cultural studies can help differentiate the universal and culture-specific aspects of psychological phenomenon (Triandis, 1994), particularly relevant to perceptions and treatment of problem behaviors. To date, few cross-cultural studies have been conducted dealing with EBD, especially in determining how cultural perceptions or beliefs may affect the definition, identification, and treatment of EBD. Cross-cultural research between two countries, the United States and India, can yield information about perceptions of and successful approaches to behavioral problems that would be important information for U.S. educators.
Definition of Culture
According to Diller and Moule (2005), culture is a lens through which life is perceived. Each culture through its differences (in language, values, personality and family patterns, worldview, sense of time and space, and rules of interaction) generates different phenomologically different experiences of reality (p. 5). The Council for Anthropology and Education (2007) acknowledged that culture is intimately related to language and affects the organization of learning and pedagogical practice, evaluative procedures and rules of schools, as well as instructional activities and curriculum. Thus, culture dictates perceptions, which influence practices.
Special Education Services in India and United States
Before 1960, both the United States and India provided segregated services to children with disabilities, but gradually both countries have changed and improved the quality of special services. In the United States, students with disabilities have the right to be educated in the least restrictive environment (LRE) which was first defined in 1975 under Public Law 94-142. Vaughn, Bos, and Schumm (2007) described the least restrictive environment (as defined by IDEA) as the setting most like that of non-disabled students that also meets each child’s educational needs (p. 4). The LRE requires that all students with disabilities receive an education in a setting which allows the student to develop his or her highest potential in an environment with non-disabled peers as appropriate (Smith, Polloway, Patton & Dowdy, 1995; Hardman, Drew, Egan & Wolf, 1990). Data from the 27th Annual Report to Congress (U.S. Department of Education, 2005) indicated that the percentage of students with emotional disturbance receiving special education services outside the regular class for more than 60% of the day has decreased from 35% in 1994 to 30% in 2003; the percentage of students with emotional disturbance being served in separate public facilities has decreased from 8% to 6.5%.
In India, a country with over 3,000 years of civilization, the Indian people have been accustomed to dealing with disabilities in a natural psychotherapeutic way rather than depending on western medicine; disabilities were traditionally accepted as misfortune. After gaining independence from the Moghal and British empires, however, the general public in India learned to ignore the conventional thinking and accepted individuals with disabilities. Up until 1972, no school services for students with disabilities existed. Currently, India recognizes several categories of disabilities, however, EBD is not one of them. In 1947 the Government of India began an initiative in the education and rehabilitation of persons with disabilities. However progress was slow until the entire disability sector received a boost in 1981 with the declaration of the International Year of the Disabled Persons by the United Nations (Singh, 2004). According to Singh (2004), the 1992 Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI) Act was amended in 2000 to make the Council more broad based by including important duties such as the promotion of research in rehabilitation and special education. This also included maintaining uniformity in the definitions of various disabilities in conformity with the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995 (Singh, 2004). The identification of behavior disorders, however, was not recognized.
Children with severe behavior problems are recognized as juvenile delinquents under the Juvenile Justice Act (House of Parliament, India, 2000). Behavior problems are addressed in juvenile courts which have been set up in different geographic areas. Once juvenile delinquents (children who come into conflict with the law or those who are described as orphans or abandoned) in India are charged with a criminal act, they may be placed in the juvenile home, the observation home, or the special home (Mookherjee, 1994).
Defintions of EBD
In the United States, the current definition for EBD is similar to that used in the early 1960’s (Ysseldyke, Algozzine, & Thurlow, 2000), though the terminology of serious emotional disturbance was replaced in IDEA 1997 by emotional disturbance to eliminate the negative connotation of serious (Knoblauch & Sorenson, 1998). Students with emotional disturbance in the United States are identified based on the following characteristics: (a) an inability to learn regardless of intellectual, sensory, or health factors; (b) an inability to build satisfactory relationships with peers and teachers; (c) inappropriate types of behaviors or feelings under normal circumstances; (d) depression or mood swings; or (e) the development of physical problems or personal fears. The term also included individuals with schizophrenia and autism, but does not include socially maladjusted children unless they were considered seriously emotionally disturbed (U.S. Department of Education, 1998). This definition, however, has faced criticism for its vagueness, redundancy, lack of empirical support, and ambiguity (see Cullinan, 2005).
Disproportionality
In the United Statessecondary students with emotional disturbance are more likely to be male, black, and to live in poverty than secondary students in the general population (p. xiv, U.S. Department of Education, 2005). For the past decade, many concerns have been expressed regarding the disproportionality of students placed in special education, particularly those identified as EBD. Research indicated that this is due to institutional racism, stereotypes, cultural incompetence, racial bias, and inequitable discipline policies (Lehr & McComas, 2006). Some have suggested that students who stand out from the norm are more likely to be labeled by educators as having EBD even though their behavior is similar to that of their white peers (Oswald, Coutinho, & Best, 2002). Teacher perceptions on behavior play a powerful role in referring students to be identified with EBD. These perceptions of student behavior are influenced by gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status (Casteel, 2000). Thus, it is imperative that teachers develop cultural competency to bridge cultural discontinuity between teachers, students, and families (Osher et al., 2007; Diller & Moule, 2005). Cultural competency involves educating students in the context of minority status, respecting culturally defined needs of diverse populations, acknowledging that culture shapes behavior, and recognizing that thought-patterns from diverse cultures are equally valid, though different, and influence student perceptions (Cross, Bazron, Dennis, & Isaacs, 1989). Finally, Oswald and Coutinho (2006) explained that students from diverse ethnic backgrounds may have higher prevalence of disability not because they ‘stand out’ but because of the inherent stress of living as a member of a minority group (p. 3). With the understanding that stress is associated with living as a minority member within a homogenous community, supports can be developed to help students from diverse backgrounds cope with this stress as an effort to reduce disability prevalence (Oswald & Coutinho, 2006).
Cultural competency has been a recommended policy in the field to battle the misidentification and inappropriate treatment of children of color (Cross et al., 1989; U.S. Dept. of Education, 1994). For example, the Office of Special Education Programs reported valuing and addressing diversity as a target strategy to effectively meet the needs of students with EBD. The target strategy goal included “to encourage culturally competent and linguistically appropriate exchanges and collaborations among families, professionals, students, and communities. These collaborations should foster equitable outcomes for all students and result in the identification and provision of services that are responsive to issues of race, culture, gender, and social and economic status” (U.S Department of Education, 1994, Strategic Target 3, ¶1). Despite these efforts, disproportionality continues to exist in the EBD category in the United States, forcing educational leadership to examine the quality and effectiveness of how practitioners are prepared to operate in culturally diverse settings.
Statement of the Problem
In India disabilities are defined as handicaps that are divided into four categories: physical, visual, hearing, and mental (Misra, 1996). Unlike the United States, the category behavior disorder is not considered a disability in Indian culture. The implications are: (a) there are no behavior problems among children in India, (b) Indian society does not recognize behavior problems as disabilities or it defines behavior problems differently, (c) behavior is perceived as the responsibility of someone other than the school’s, or (d) behavior problems which do exist are so well accommodated that they do not merit additional attention. Thus, a cross-cultural study would help determine how and why behavior is perceived and treated differently between two countries.
Purpose
This research was aimed to investigate the process of cultural understanding toward teachers’, parents’, and students’ perception and acceptance of behavior disorders. The main purpose of the study was to qualitatively characterize the factors that influence society’s perception, acceptance or recognition and treatment of behavior disorders.
Method
The research design for this study is based on qualitative inquiry. A field theory approach (Kleiner & Okeke, 1991) enhances the role of psychological and cognitive processes in understanding a wide range of social behaviors representing an individual’s (or group) way of perceiving and organizing or reacting to the environment. This approach acknowledges that numerous variables act simultaneously on the population being studied at any given point in time including social structure, culture, and psychological factors.
Setting
Two settings were chosen in order to perform the comparison of perceptions. The first setting of India included observations in two residential for facilities for students with behavioral issues. Observations took place at a residential juvenile center for boys in India which provides academic, vocational, recreational, and rehabilitation programs for children from grades k-12 and who have mild or moderate behavior problems. Research observations also took place at a residential home for girls in India that provides academic, social, and behavioral services for females between the ages of 5 and 15.
The second setting observed was a U.S. high school in New Mexico. Because it was a public school, only two classrooms were selected for observation. This high school served approximately 30 students who were identified as having behavior disorders.
Participants
The subjects of this study include teachers, parents and students affiliated with both residential settings in India and the high school in New Mexico. The subjects in India came from diverse linguistic and socioeconomic backgrounds. The students ranged in age from 12 to 17 years old. The students in New Mexico rangedin age from 14 to 18 years old. They primarily came from Hispanic and Anglo cultures and were from low socioeconomic backgrounds. The parents and teachers either lived and/or worked in the southern part of New Mexico.
Five to six students (three girls and two boys from the U.S. and four boys and two girls from India) were selected from each of the school settings as participants for this study. For the entire study approximately 12-15 subjects were utilized in each setting. In India, 6 students, 5 teachers, and 1 parent participated. In the United States, 5 students, 5 teachers, and 5 parent/guardians were involved in the study. Table 1 provides a summary of demographic information.
Table 1
Demographic Information of Study Participants
Teachers / Parents / StudentsGender
Male
Female / n = 2
n = 8 / n = 0
n = 6 / n = 6
n = 5
Race
White
Hispanic
African American
Asian Indian
Other / n = 3
n = 1
n = 6 / n = 1
n = 3
n = 1
n =1 / n = 1
n = 3
n = 6
n =1
United States / n = 5 / n = 5 / n = 5
India / n = 5 / n = 1 / n = 6
Total / n = 10 / n = 6 / n = 11
Data Collection
This qualitative, ethnographic study included participant observations and interviews with parents, students and teachers. Several types of data were gathered which included in-depth interviews, non-participant observations, participant observations, reflective journals, and a formal review of available literature.
The in-depth interviews aimed to develop an understanding of perspectives of behavior disorders? The researcher used open-ended questions with the subjects over a 30-45 minute period. In-depth interviews were conducted with each participating teacher, student and parent. The interview focused on participants’ knowledge, views, perceptions and understanding of behavior disorders.
In India, non-participant observations were conducted in the five different classrooms. This type of observation allowed for a greater building of rapport between the researcher and all participants. In the U.S., by contrast, participant observations were used. The focus of these observations was sometimes student-centered, teacher-centered, and/or whole-class-centered.
The reflective journal included the researcher’s personal thoughts and questions related to the study. These were reflected upon during and after each site visit. The reflective journal was an important tool in identifying and exploring themes as they emerged from the data.
As the research was conducted and new issues or themes were identified, the researcher continued exploration of the literature. The literature review continued throughout the study as the researcher collected, analyzed and attempted to interpret the meaning of the data.
Results
After analyzing the interview tapes, observation notes, and reflective journal, several themes related to perception, acceptance, and treatment of behavior disorders in India and the United States emerged. The four primary themes were related to ): 1) definitions of behavior problems or disorders in children and youth in India and in the United States, 2) responsibility for treating children and youth with behavior problems and disorders in India and the United States, 3) cultural construction of the concept of behavior problems or disorders and their treatment in the classroom in India and the United States, and 4) causes of behavioral problems and disorders in children and youth in India and the United States.
Definitions
The parent/guardians and teachers in the United States represented diverse cultural backgrounds. Three parent/guardians and one teacher were Hispanic Americans, one parent was Asian American, one teacher was Indian American, and one parent/guardian and three teachers were Anglo. When asked Is your child identified with EBD? individuals of Hispanic, Asian, Indian, and Anglo American origin responded with the comments provided in Table 2.
Table 2
Comments from Parents of Diverse Cultural Backgrounds Responding to the Question,
“Is your child identified with EBD?”
Cultural Background / CommentsParents from Hispanic Origin
Parent 1 / 1) “No, because the term doesn’t exist.”
Parent 2 / 2) “No and Yes. No, because not in Mexico or in Native American culture. Yes, because, I am born and brought in the U.S., and the term exists in that country.”
Parent 3 / 3) “No, the term doesn’t exist.”
Parent 4 / 4) “No, because the term doesn’t exist.”
Parent from Asian Origin / “No because they don’t have such term.”
Parent from Indian Origin / “No, because the term doesn’t exist.” (Indian American)
Parents from Anglo Origin
Parent 1 / “Yes.”
Parent 2 / “Yes, it is the part of the legal term to identify SED/BD.”
Parent 3 / “Yes, it is part of the special education law.”
Parent 4 / “Yes, it is the part of the special education law.”
Table 3 summarizes the information regarding the identification of behavior disorders within their own culture. It is important to note that answers did not differ between parents/guardians or teachers. Answers were only different based on cultural perspectives.
Table 3
Parent and Teacher Perception of the EBD Label by Culture within the United States: Responses to “Are Children Identified as EBD within your Culture?”
Culture / Yes / No / Other(Yes & No)
Hispanic / n = 3 / n = 1
White / n = 4
Indian American / n = 1
Asian American / n = 1
Teachers and parents in India were not asked if children were identified as EBD in their culture because a specific definition for emotional problems and behavior disorders did not exist in India. However, they were asked to state their own personal definition of behavior problems. One teacher stated that she believed the children she served had mild and moderate behavior problems, but that they were not born with the condition. This teacher expressed that the problems developed from their environment and the environment they grew up in. Another teacher agreed that the behavior problems were not something with which the child was born. She said, Today’s children are more independent. . . .When parents and society want to mold them based on their expectations, conflict arises. Most of these children did not have any structured life and guidance in their childhood. All teachers interviewed from India agreed that behavior disorders are not the result of some congenital anomaly, but that the only contribution to EBD was environmental. They also agreed that these children exhibited negative behavior as the result of poverty, negligence, lack of structure and lack of education within the family.